Can Playing Four Player Chess Help With Normal Chess?

So lately I got into 4pc (Four Player Chess). This was mainly due to the recently named Chess.com Streamer @Radon. He is one of the greatest 4pc players on the planet. I still have the slight edge in normal chess but that might not be for much longer the way he is improving. All this made me ask the question... Can 4pc really help you improve in normal chess? So here is my take on that very topic right now! 

Does 4pc help improve calculation?

This is the topic that is most fascinating to me. So calculation in 2pc vs 4pc is pretty similar. The only difference in it from what I can tell is that 4pc has a lot more lines. It is a much more shallow calculation. In 2pc sometimes you have to look super deeply while in 4pc a lot more often you cannot get that deep. There are also a lot more variables. Especially at the 2000 level. People often don't play the best moves, which makes certain types of calculation borderline useless. Here is an example.

So it is blue to move. Here was my basic calculation for this position. Bxh3 Bxc6 Qxi2# Bxi2 Bi12. The problem is there is a ton of variables. One big problem is Bxh3 and green do not play the mate. Then I would just be down a bishop for no reason. The best move is the mate for green but you never know. While in 2pc all we have to calculate is what one person can do. And you can cycle through a lot deeper lines that way. 

Alright so you might be thinking, Devon what does this have to do with whether or not 4pc helps improve 2pc calculation? Well, we are getting to that. I believe that if you play 4pc seriously and try to calculate a lot in all the lines, I do firmly believe your 2 pc calculation will also improve. To some degree when it comes to chess calculating your brain works the same way for both 2pc and 4 pc calculating which means improving your calculation in one will most likely help improve your calculation in the other. I used to play 4pc a while back but since I only started getting into it again I have seen that 2pc skills do somewhat translate to 4pc. Side note. If you want to better understand calculation I would ask that you would consider filling out this form. It is for a college paper and we are gathering data on calculation and how important visualization is for it. https://forms.gle/n6uMcCyiB898pmJMA

Does 4pc help 2pc intuition?

My opinion on this one might ruffle some feathers. I think first of all we have to define intuition. There is Intuition and there is Tactical vision which I am considering 2 completely different things. My definition of intuition here is simple. Inherently knowing the best moves in the position. Now, 4pc uses completely different types of intuition. The openings are different. The main plans and ideas are different. So I believe 4pc does nothing to help improve your 2pc intuition. And I also don't think 2pc intuition carries over to 4pc. In small things yes but not overall. I still make a ton of blunders in 4pc that I would never make in 2pc.

Does 4pc help 2pc tactical vision

Alright, so my simple definition of tactical vision is simply the ability to spot tactics. A lot of 2pc tactics apply in 4pc and vise versa. Often times in 4pc the tactics require more then just you but either way it for sure helps sharpen your ability to spot stuff. Tactical vision is one of those things that is super important. Here is an example game featuring one of the greatest tactical eyes and one of the greatest blitz players in the world. 

He saw all of this instantly. I totally missed it. That right there is tactical vision. It can look similar in 4pc.

This is a super simple teams tactics. Qxb8+ the no matter what green plays Qxc7# That is just on example of 4pc tactical vision. So I firmly believe tactical vision is something that is shared in across both. 

Can game analysis in 4pc help with it in 2pc?

This was the toughest section to come up with a real answer for. And this might not be the case for everyone but I am going to present how this has affected me. So everyone should know by now that I am not great at the after game analysis part. I would rather play a bunch more games then actually take time analyzing. At least online. OTB I do actually analyze my games. Again not particularly well but I still try. According to the best 4pc players in the world game analysis is the most important thing for improvement in 4pc. I am still not great at it but I have improved since doing it. I also think that it has helped my 2pc analysis. Not by huge leaps and bounds but small incremental improvements is all I can ask for.

Can 4pc help with 2pc defending/converting?

Playing 4pc I have had to try to defend some tough positions. One thing in FFA in particular is that it can incredibly difficult to win even a position that is up a queen. I have been able to win some ridiculous positions that I was dead lost in and lose some that I should have been crushing in. While 2pc is the same way in some cases, that sample size for me is much smaller. Usually I am pretty good at converting. This is something I don't think goes either way. There is not much evidence to suggest defending in 4pc helps you defend in 2pc and same with converting. The only reason is simply because of how drastically different the types of positions you are getting are. 

Can 4pc help with your 2pc endgames?

Endgames. My favorite part of the chess game but also my least favorite. Kind of like how I love chess but I also hate it. 

Like tell me you did not feel like ripping your hair out trying to figure it out. But then once you see it is the prettiest thing ever. Well believe it or not 4pc endgames might be worse.

All this work to defend a lost position. And it is still losing. Here for a moment, I thought I solved the position but then to my horror, I realized he can play kxl8. And he is just promoting and winning. Pretty easily mind you. But he missed it and I won both pawns and was promoted. I went on to win with K+Q vs K and it was simple. But does that help your 2pc endgame ability? I have to say no. I don't think it truly does anything. Maybe it can help you better understand common endgame patterns like K+Q vs K but I think endgames are too rare in 4pc to do anything for 2pc. 

Does 4pc help with 2pc planning?

So what is a plan? A plan is finding ways to play certain positions. For example.

And another note is that intuition is also different from planning. You can use intuition to make a plan but the plan is more precise and is a set of ideas. in 4pc it is super similar except in my opinion the plans are so much different. It is a lot more shuffling trying to get pieces into their optimum positions. So overall I do not think it can help in 2pc much at all.
 Conclusion

My verdict is... That I believe playing an overall help 2pc. Tactical vision and calculation are super important and I that those do carry over. I think that the carryover rate from 2pc to 4pc is pretty large as well. I think 2000 would improve slower and play worse than 2400 would. I think understanding does carry over. But I also believe 4pc takes a lot of getting used to in things such as coming up with plans. In my games, I tend to push too hard. Instead of letting the game come to me, I try to force a way in. Which is a very poor way to play because it makes enemies. So I think 4pc does help in some areas but I still think the best path for improvement is playing games and doing tactics and analyzing your games. Variants while they are fun are not overly beneficial for standard chess. I hope you all enjoyed this and you learned something. Any questions or complaints make sure to comment. Also, make sure to share this blog and the Google Form. More blogs will be coming so stay tuned!